Haqqani part of our Leadership Council: Taliban

KABUL (PAN): The Haqqani network, part of the Taliban Leadership Council, seeks operational guidance from its supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, the insurgent movement said on Tuesday.

The Taliban, not Pakistan, controlled the group, the insurgents said in a statement on their website. "Neither are our bases in Pakistan nor do we need residence outside of our country."

The statement comes amid mounting pressure from the Obama administration on Islamabad to eliminate the group's safe havens in the North Waziristan tribal region, from where the network allegedly launches incursions into Afghanistan.

Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqqani, the group’s founder, received all guidance for operations from their leader, the statement added. "Our advice to the people of Pakistan and its government is that it should deliberate on America’s two-faced politics.”

Through lies, the US wanted to spread the impression that the Haqqani network was a separate force, the Taliban said, adding Americans sought to bring a bad name to prominent jihadi leaders by linking them to foreign intelligence.

Political analyst Muhammad Hassan Haqyar, commenting on the statement, said the Taliban were trying to show the world that they remained united under their leader. "They are not solely reliant on Pakistan, which is not a trusted friend."

Without Pakistan's support, Haqyar believed, the US would have never been able to overthrow the Taliban regime so easily.